Within
Keith Deininger
DarkFuse
May 5, 2015
Reviewed by Tim Potter
Within by Keith Deininger is an interesting and dark new horror novel that succeeds largely on the merits of it’s realistic characters and vivid locale.
In fact, the town of Mesa Rapids is so well realized that it becomes a character unto itself, and Deininger uses this to full effect. Located in the desert southwest of the U.S., on the Colorado River, it is a town with a history as varied as it is violent. From its original settling by pioneers and miners, the town saw a fundamental Christian takeover, a violent massacre prior to its current position as a bastion for the arts.
The main character is Colin, a young man escaping the certainty of graduate school to try and find his place in the art community as a painter. Colin is three dimensional and well fleshed-out and is the focus of the narrative in both the third person and through excerpts from his journal. When the reader is presented with his journal, which is interesting and insightful, the entire passages are set in italics. It’s not a criticism of the story, but book formatting, that such long passages are not pleasing to the eyes when entirely italicized. The other characters work to a varying degree, Maddy and the mysterious Mr. M chief among them, where the characters of Lauren and Jeremy come off a bit flat. Young Zach is a highlight.
As the story unfolds, each individual character is the focus of separate chapters. This makes the flow a bit uneven, though the author does a good job of keeping the less interesting and less essential characters’ passages brief before getting back to the meat of the story. The tale moves forward with a generally brisk pace, fuels mainly by the readers desire to see what is in store for the characters. The novel builds from a small, intimate tale of individual characters to an almost cataclysmic showdown on a city-wide scale.
There are times when the story becomes dream-like and seems to veer away from reality. This adds an interesting element that keeps the reader on their toes, knowing that any time what they think they know may be wrong. And there’s no frustrating waiting to see what is real or what isn’t, as the answers to that come quickly. There are times when the characters, too, are forced to question reality. They find themselves consulting a small card, left for them that asks “Is this a dream?” It’s a good question.
The ending of the story is satisfying in its combination of resolution and ambiguity. Character arcs are brought together, questions about the villain and Mesa Rapids are addressed, but Deininger leaves some questions unanswered. This works very well to leave the reader with a sense of the mysterious that was prevalent throughout the novel.
- Midian Unmade – Book Review - September 30, 2015
- Wolf Land – Book Review - September 16, 2015
- Convalescence – Book Review - September 7, 2015
- Rage Master – Book Review - September 3, 2015
- The Art of Horrible People – Book Review - August 28, 2015
- Greasepaint – Book Review - August 26, 2015
- Bonesy – Book Review - August 17, 2015
- Dark Screams: Volume Four – Book Review - August 13, 2015
- Trust No One – Book Review - August 10, 2015
- The Monstruous – Book Review - August 3, 2015
